That and the fact that Joe really hasn't done anything all that good in a long time. He gets credit for putting together the original team of cast-offs that won the title, but other than that, what good move and/or draft pick has he made? He made one of the biggest draft blunders of all time taking Darko instead of Wade, Anthony, or Bosh. That was horrible. He hasn't made any other free agent deals that are notable, and none of his other draft picks have been that great. He made another horrible pick in Mateen Cleeves. The reality is that Joe hasn't been a very good executive. He caught lightning in a bottle once, but has largely not done well. If he weren't a home town guy, I think many would be calling for his head already.

_________________"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson

December 14th, 2010, 12:14 pm

The Legend

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4026Location: WSU

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

What happened? After losing in the conference finals 3 yrs in a row Dumars finally decided to change the formula but he traded their most important playerfor a fading superstar. This was supposedly also supposed to help the salary cap bc Iverson's contract was fading but they gave Hamilton a 3 yr extension. Iverson ruined team chemistry under a rookie coach and star players like Rasheed and Iverson essentially lost interest. Instead of identifying that the team was going nowwhere Dumars didnt trade any veteran players to legit playoff contenders namely Wallace and McDyess who had value and the Pistons settled for an embarrassing performance in the playoffs vs CLE rather than acquiring anything to help rebuild. Entering the offseason the Pistons clear needs were a point guard and a big man. In a point guard heavy draft they passed on Jrue Holliday, Ty Lawson, Rodrique Beaubois, and Darren Collison and instead took Austin Daye in Rd 1 only to find a better player at the same position later in the draft in Jonas Jerebko and then took a third small forward with DaJuan Summers and also missed on big man Dejuan Blair. They actually drafted a 4th SF type in Chase Budinger but traded him away for essentially nothing. Of the players we drafted Jerebko is the best but sustained a major inury and the next best player was Budinger which we traded away. Next in free agency we threw money at 2 players which I can best describe as antiPistons. There was no need for Ben Gordon as we already had 3 shoot first guards in Stuckey, Hamilton, and Bynum. Nevermind that he played in our division and Dumars should ve known that despite being talented Gordon is not a winning player - he doesnt play defense, takes bad shots, turns the ball over and doesnt like to pass much. THey got fairly good value for Villanueva but again he is a talented big man who likes to shoot 3s, doesnt play defense or rebound, and just has an overall soft game and attitude. Next they traded away a quality player in Arron Afflalo one who takes smart shots, plays tough defense, is a good shooter and generally a hard working blue collar type player that fit the Piston mold just so they could under the luxury tax. A second terrible season ensued with the Pistons being overloaded with perimeter players Stuckey, Hamilton, Gordon, Bynum, Prince, Villanueva with essentially nobody to get them the ball and only an again Ben Wallace and an out of position Jerebko chasing rebounds. After that catastrophic season Dumars followed with an offseason where he essentially did nothing - he brought back the same team! Detroit was mentioned in every trade rumor in the offseason but couldnt pull the trigger on potential deals for Al Jefferson, Michael Beasley, or even Tyson Chandler - all young big men that couldve helped the team and were traded for minimal return. They also didnt trade up in the draft as they had targetted big man Demarcus Cousins only to end up picking a player that they never even brought in for a workout. They made up for this by adding another perimeter player in Tracy McGrady and then got bitten by Jerebko's achilles tear. Now with the team sale having no end in sight they may not get anything back for Prince and are missing out on a chance to develop Austin Daye.

Joe is not very good at drafting or hiring coaches. He just makes risky trades and sometimes it works out.

He could turn this team around by next season, or they could wallow in mediocrity for years.

December 23rd, 2010, 5:27 am

anon749244

Varsity Captain

Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:37 pmPosts: 312

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

The Legend wrote:

What happened? After losing in the conference finals 3 yrs in a row Dumars finally decided to change the formula but he traded their most important playerfor a fading superstar. This was supposedly also supposed to help the salary cap bc Iverson's contract was fading but they gave Hamilton a 3 yr extension. Iverson ruined team chemistry under a rookie coach and star players like Rasheed and Iverson essentially lost interest. Instead of identifying that the team was going nowwhere Dumars didnt trade any veteran players to legit playoff contenders namely Wallace and McDyess who had value and the Pistons settled for an embarrassing performance in the playoffs vs CLE rather than acquiring anything to help rebuild. Entering the offseason the Pistons clear needs were a point guard and a big man. In a point guard heavy draft they passed on Jrue Holliday, Ty Lawson, Rodrique Beaubois, and Darren Collison and instead took Austin Daye in Rd 1 only to find a better player at the same position later in the draft in Jonas Jerebko and then took a third small forward with DaJuan Summers and also missed on big man Dejuan Blair. They actually drafted a 4th SF type in Chase Budinger but traded him away for essentially nothing. Of the players we drafted Jerebko is the best but sustained a major inury and the next best player was Budinger which we traded away. Next in free agency we threw money at 2 players which I can best describe as antiPistons. There was no need for Ben Gordon as we already had 3 shoot first guards in Stuckey, Hamilton, and Bynum. Nevermind that he played in our division and Dumars should ve known that despite being talented Gordon is not a winning player - he doesnt play defense, takes bad shots, turns the ball over and doesnt like to pass much. THey got fairly good value for Villanueva but again he is a talented big man who likes to shoot 3s, doesnt play defense or rebound, and just has an overall soft game and attitude. Next they traded away a quality player in Arron Afflalo one who takes smart shots, plays tough defense, is a good shooter and generally a hard working blue collar type player that fit the Piston mold just so they could under the luxury tax. A second terrible season ensued with the Pistons being overloaded with perimeter players Stuckey, Hamilton, Gordon, Bynum, Prince, Villanueva with essentially nobody to get them the ball and only an again Ben Wallace and an out of position Jerebko chasing rebounds. After that catastrophic season Dumars followed with an offseason where he essentially did nothing - he brought back the same team! Detroit was mentioned in every trade rumor in the offseason but couldnt pull the trigger on potential deals for Al Jefferson, Michael Beasley, or even Tyson Chandler - all young big men that couldve helped the team and were traded for minimal return. They also didnt trade up in the draft as they had targetted big man Demarcus Cousins only to end up picking a player that they never even brought in for a workout. They made up for this by adding another perimeter player in Tracy McGrady and then got bitten by Jerebko's achilles tear. Now with the team sale having no end in sight they may not get anything back for Prince and are missing out on a chance to develop Austin Daye.

I don't think the iverson deal was as cancerous as people make it out to be - hiring Michael curry is what (furher) ruined team chemistry.

June 29th, 2011, 11:11 am

The Legend

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4026Location: WSU

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

the problem was iverson not curry. just think back to all of iverson's histrionics, faking a back injury, publicly complaining about playing time when he wasnt performing. that really only affected one season but Dumars parlayed his Iverson mistake by signing a poor man's version of Iverson in Ben Gordon (though Gordon is at least a true professional) - another ballhog...

June 30th, 2011, 7:44 am

anon749244

Varsity Captain

Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:37 pmPosts: 312

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

The Legend wrote:

the problem was iverson not curry. just think back to all of iverson's histrionics, faking a back injury, publicly complaining about playing time when he wasnt performing. that really only affected one season but Dumars parlayed his Iverson mistake by signing a poor man's version of Iverson in Ben Gordon (though Gordon is at least a true professional) - another ballhog...

the problem was joe d bringing in a nobody head coach who none of the egos on team respected, and then doing it again with kuester, and then probably doing it again with sampson/woodsen.

June 30th, 2011, 11:47 am

regularjoe12

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: March 30th, 2006, 12:48 amPosts: 3955Location: Davison Mi

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

sooo getting rid of a "team capt" like player for a washed up has been dueche bag with emotional issues had nothing to do with it? and yes Im talking about the player who initially show the high levels of disrepect for said coach.

_________________2013 Lionbacker Fantasy Football Champion

June 30th, 2011, 12:45 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

This team should have been blown up before resigning Chauncy, period. Chauncy had gotten lazy and complacent. For him knowing that the Pistons could go out there and beat anyone was enough, he didn't have to prove it by getting the victory. Listen to the interviews of them in the finals, he says it over and over "we know we're the better team," "we know we can beat anyone out there."

June 30th, 2011, 3:06 pm

anon749244

Varsity Captain

Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:37 pmPosts: 312

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

wjb21ndtown wrote:

This team should have been blown up before resigning Chauncy, period. Chauncy had gotten lazy and complacent. For him knowing that the Pistons could go out there and beat anyone was enough, he didn't have to prove it by getting the victory. Listen to the interviews of them in the finals, he says it over and over "we know we're the better team," "we know we can beat anyone out there."

This.

Chauncey had been mailing it in since 2006.

Iverson had a lot left in the tank, Joe d should have given him a real coach (who, at that time, would have been laimbeer.)

June 30th, 2011, 3:50 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

aughsum wrote:

wjb21ndtown wrote:

This team should have been blown up before resigning Chauncy, period. Chauncy had gotten lazy and complacent. For him knowing that the Pistons could go out there and beat anyone was enough, he didn't have to prove it by getting the victory. Listen to the interviews of them in the finals, he says it over and over "we know we're the better team," "we know we can beat anyone out there."

This.

Chauncey had been mailing it in since 2006.

Iverson had a lot left in the tank, Joe d should have given him a real coach (who, at that time, would have been laimbeer.)

I wouldn't go that far with Iverson. He said a lot of things that weren't true, like "I would be willing to come off of the bench if it makes the team better," and then acted completely contrary to that statement.

My point is, however, that we never would have had Iverson had we not re-signed Chauncy. We wouldn't have had to deal with Chauncy's non-sense and huge contract, and we wouldn't have had to pick up the malcontent in Iverson. I will admit that I was happy when we landed Iverson, mainly because I thought that Chauncy's time here was long over-due, but I wish the Pistons would have pursued another option before re-signing Chauncy in the first place.

There is a thread on here somewhere that has a bunch of people calling me crazy for not wanting to re-sign Chauncy and for stating that he is way over-priced for what we're getting out of him here. He is playing better in Denver, but we weren't getting that production out of him here.

June 30th, 2011, 4:05 pm

The Legend

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4026Location: WSU

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

im not with you at all on the chauncey business, what we needed was a solid backup for him to prevent him from being worn down by the time the playoffs came around...this team has desperately needed a PG since chauncey has been gone. without a pg it is difficult to assess what players like Rip/Gordon/Villanueva can actually do

July 1st, 2011, 4:34 pm

anon749244

Varsity Captain

Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:37 pmPosts: 312

Re: What happened to the Pistons???

I'd like to have them resign tmac to run the point - the offense flowed pretty well through him.